VICTORIAN BEAD RETREAT

THE LAST TWO DAYS
Saturday 14.7.2014 & Sunday 14.7.2014

A bit weary this morning, up a little later than the past two days, as I had no classes to teach & was up late again having fun with the girls in my cabin. We had certainly gotten along so well & firmed up our friendships.

After breakfast today I was in class again with Natalie from Peruzi https://www.facebook.com/Peruzi.net .
We were going to be taking our dried clay creations & decorate them with glazes.This was a 3 hour class & you would think painting on glaze would be fast..... hmmmmm ,not so my friends not so! LOL. First we had to sponge clean up our items, then lightly cover them with our coloured glazes,letting the glaze dry in between, before finally coating them in a gloss glaze. The gloss glaze step was optional. The steps involved certainly makes you appreciate the time & work that goes into a ceramicists work & gets you hooked :-). I am saving for a kiln. YAHHHHHH!!!!!

BLISSFULLY GLAZING

Other brilliant classes taking place in the same time frame where, "Magatama Ring' taught by Coral from Bead Weaving,https://www.facebook.com/BeadWeaving these ladies are teaching machines LOL. Pictured below left,  "Paisley Peacock Earrings" run by Terri McDonald, pictured below right.

PAISLEY PEACOCK EARRINGS
MADE BY JANELLE

MAGATAMA RING
PHOTO JACINTA DONOVAN

Another "Introduction to Filigree' from Cheri Bate took place up in the leaders cabin, https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/GemsOfOz?ref=si_shop
We had "Beaded Crystal Ball" taught by Christina Armstrong,pictured below left, along with "Tips n Tricks with Translucent Clay" from Karen Cooke,pictured below centre & right.

BEADED CRYSTAL BALL
PHOTO LINDA HARRIS

TRANSLUCENT CLAY CLASS
PHOTO ALIDA

TRANSLUCENT CLAY CLASS
PHOTO ALIDA

and last but not least for the morning sessions Pauline with her "Next Step, Sculptural Glass Bead Making".

Lunch time rolled around & I was feeling pretty relaxed after glazing away with Nat. Enjoyed a slow lunch & getting revved up for the class I was booked in a for the afternoon. A 3D bead weaving class I was very excited to be doing this class with the very lovely Yvonne Ireland. Now the class was going along splendidly & was I managing to keep up & on track, but I sadly developed a bad head & the seed beads became enemy number 1 :-(.  I have all my bits n bobs back here at home with me ready for me to complete. Its such a divine project & I will finish it soon. But in the meantime here is one my friend Seona completed. Seona has her own Business page on FB also https://www.facebook.com/SeonaMargaretDesigns

3 D SEED BEADED COMPONENTS

In the afternoon a few of the classes where full day sessions so they continued on right through to the 4.30 time slot. Such as " Tips N ricks with Translucent Clay" We also had another session of glazing for Nat's students who had created earthenware pieces. Liz Reed was running her final session of  "Bezel Set Rings" & Pauline had an "Open Torch Session " for those more proficient lamp workers.

Chez was also running her final session for "Fluer De Lis Bracelet" pictured below. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Southernbeadz/113826615305495?ref_type=bookmark

FLUER DE LIS BRACELET
PHOTO NIKKI MCPHAN

With the final set of classes finishing up for the retreat at 4.30pm the realisation of the retreat coming to an end started to dawn upon me. I was sad but also happy. Happy to be going home to see my family ( hubby & 4 children) but so sad that I would be saying goodbye to some amazing women. Thankfully I can catch up with them on FB & have those friendships continue to strengthen. Until such times Ican hang with them all again.
With all this in mind, I set off for my last dinner at the retreat with my new friends.



After dinner all of the retreaters had the fabulous opportunity to purchases more goodies with another "Mini Market" taking place. This was just genius really as some of the tutors where selling kits to their classes that had been held. Perfect as I had seen many finished projects from these classes & set off to grab kits for my girls & I to complete at home. Not to mention of course all the supplies that one had to have LOL.

BELLA BEADS

MY MINI MARKET STASH

Once I was all Mini Marketed out, I sat for a while with the very generous & super clever Sharon Hutton for the Free Beading session, Sharon guided me through learning a twisted herring bone rope using two different sized seed beads,which gives a lot of twist & definition to the rope. It was getting late & I wasn't far off wanting to hit the sack. So myself & E.K got to clearing up the big conference hall,putting tables away & giving the whole place a once over with the vaccuum. Phewwww worked up a sweat....Was rewarded with a Jersey Caramel Vodka, now there's a drink that will knock ya socks off LOL.

Time to turn in, Back to the cabin, got myself sorted to pack up in the morning. Guess What???? My cabins mates & I where up again gas bagging till 3am.
Fell asleep finally ! Only to wake up at 5.30am to this face peering in at me from the darkness of our cabin door......I was stunned & befuddled all at once! Door shuts...I flew up out of bed ready to attack, like a Ninja. Only to discover it was just Chez, looking for her travel companions. Just got the wrong room....Talk about laugh. :-).
I did actually go back to sleep till around 8ish, got up showered rushed off to breakfast. Finished up there,packed the car did the rounds for about an hour of see ya's,hugs,kisses & goodbyes before heading off home.

So there you have it, five days of fun & creating that I would highly recommend to any of you who are keen to bead/create with like minded people.
The next retreat takes place in January in Canberra http://aussiebeadingretreats.com/
If you would like to be a part of the Aussie Bead Retreats please follow the links to the web pagehttp://aussiebeadingretreats.com/ & FB Page, https://www.facebook.com/AussieBeadingRetreats

All images & projects featured here in this Blog & on the Aussie Bead Retreats site are protected by IP laws of Australia. Photo's used have been done so with the permission of those who have taken the photo's.

THE BEADING RETREAT DAY 3

BEAD EMBROIDERY

DAY 3:

After another wonderful early start & a hearty brekkie,it was off to the first class for the day.

I was about to embark of my first adventure into Bead Embroidery.......I was very hesitant indeed.
However I was of course nervous for no reason,the class was run by a very accomplished teacher , Sharon Hutton & packed with wonderful experienced ladies, all of which were eager to lend a hand.



Now I must admit in the year & a bit it's been since I had attended this retreat I never did finish the project. Never the less it did lead to more beading, to which I thoroughly enjoy.

Now after a little break, we are off to our next class, I was SUUUUPPPER excited about this one. TORCH FIRE ENAMELLING...... Oh yes :-)

RESULTS OF A FUN ENJOYABLE ENAMELLING SESSION

Pictured above were the results of a double session of Torch Fire Enamelling,something I highly recommend you do if you ever have the chance.

The results are amazing and of course once you get over the fear of the flame ( I was a fraction scared in the beginning) there really is no stopping you.

I bought all the required tools to set up at home & do a bit here in there when a piece calls for it. It is a skill that required constant practice,which only makes the results more spectacular.

Our teacher was one Mrs Liz DeLuca based in Brisbane,Qld & runs classes regularly and is quite the accomplished Lampworker also.

To contact Liz regarding any classes you can contact her via her FB page as well as her website

https://www.facebook.com/CreativeArtyFacts

http://www.creativeartyfacts.com.au/

Lunch was in there somewhere :-)
Tha last class for me was back with Natalie Fletcher-Jones of https://www.facebook.com/Peruzi.net where we would be decorating our hand created ceramic piece

OUR CLEVER TEACHER GIVING US A BIG SMILE FOR THE CAMERA

HERE WE ALL ARE MADLY DECORATING AWAY

Once we had painted out glazes Nat had to cart all of our pieces back with her to her tranquil Qld farm studio setting for there big final firing.

Some of my pieces were starfish & sea urchins,which I really loved creating & then getting them back home to design with.

I do hope you enjoyed reading about the fun & frivolity had by us all at the Retreat. If you are interested in being a part of any of the Retreats please go to the website for all the relevant info http://aussiebeadingretreats.com/

I hope to catch you there sometime, our next retreat is happening in July in Victoria, where I shall be teaching :-).

THE BEADING RETREAT; DAY 2

After a few hours sleep in our cabins we woke very early on the Saturday, 6.15am in fact. Showered and ready to go off to breakfast. Whilst waiting for the girls I sit on the steps writing this on my Iphone soaking up the morning fresh air and quiet surroundings. It really is a beautiful place.

Breakfast over, we all toddle off to our first real classes for the day.

Mine was earthenware Clay with Natalie from Peruzi. http://www.peruzi.net/
 A class in which where learn the basic's of making cabochons, pendants and beads.

The beginnings of the creations

End result after 3 hours of creation

The class goes for 3 hours which simply flew by and we created so much and of course meet a couple of more wonderful people, with whom I had not yet had the pleasure. The lovely Yvonne Ireland & Tracy Stillman. Both ladies are very talented designers. You can see Tracy's work at http://www.facebook.com/TracyStillmanDesigns as well as purchase her work through http://www.etsy.com/shop/TracyStillmanDesigns?ref=seller_info

Some photo's of the ladies all hard at work creating master pieces

Tracy & Mandy

Sharon, myself & Tania

Yvonne & Carina

Natalie is a fabulous teacher and made the class such a delight, we all could have stayed and continued creating till the cows came home but alas it was over all too soon and time for a break and clean up before we head off to lunch and into our Afternoon class.

AFTERNOON CLASS

My afternoon class was one I had been very excited about doing as my instructor was non other than the now world published and seed bead extraordinaire Melissa Ingram. I have always admire Melissa's work and talent ever since being published alongside her in one of Australia's leading beading magazines "Australian Beading". This is where I first became aware of her amazing talent.
http://www.aussiebeader.com/
shop online with Melissa for tutorials & supplies
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MIDesign

Today we were being taught Soutache an old technique that has made a resurgence thanks to people such as Melissa.

Melissa modelling our desired outcome for the class

After another 3 hour session most of my Soutache pendant had been completed. Lucky for me that I had not booked a class in the late afternoon two hour slot before dinner and was able to sit in on the next Soutache class and finish up.

My finished Soutache pendant.

Well at this point I was quite exhausted but on cloud nine, so much to take in. I was really looking forward to dinner and a drink or two......Along with my newest friends and to hear about their creations and adventures for the day.

EVENING CLASS

Dinner over and it was time to get into the last class for the evening a nice relaxing class called Kumihimo braiding, run by the very vivacious and fun loving Maria Sfirse.
Maria was very generous with her supplies and time.
The class was a nice quick one and so relaxing, loved the result and such quick gratification. I made one long braided piece and divided it into three bracelets for my girls.

The evening had come to an end. Time to head back to our rooms and have a little fun and get to know more about some of my fellow creative spirits. Kat Gray, Tania Black, Lyndsay Abreu and Mandy Williamson